The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets: With Critical Observations on Their Works, Volume 1G. Walker, J. Akerman, E. Edwards, 1821 - English poetry |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 54
Page 2
... delight to read , till by feeling the charms of verse , he became , as he relates , irrecoverably a poet . Such are the accidents which , sometimes remem- bered , and perhaps sometimes forgotten , produce that particular designation of ...
... delight to read , till by feeling the charms of verse , he became , as he relates , irrecoverably a poet . Such are the accidents which , sometimes remem- bered , and perhaps sometimes forgotten , produce that particular designation of ...
Page 16
... delights of solitary studies , of tem- perate pleasures , and a moderate revenue below the malice and flatteries of fortune . " So differently are things seen ! and so differently are they shown ! But actions are visible , though ...
... delights of solitary studies , of tem- perate pleasures , and a moderate revenue below the malice and flatteries of fortune . " So differently are things seen ! and so differently are they shown ! But actions are visible , though ...
Page 36
... happy call , ' Tis Hope is the most hopeless thing of all . Hope , thou bold taster of delight , Who , whilst thou should'st but taste , devour'st it quite ! Thou bring'st us an estate , yet leav'st us poor 36 COWLEY .
... happy call , ' Tis Hope is the most hopeless thing of all . Hope , thou bold taster of delight , Who , whilst thou should'st but taste , devour'st it quite ! Thou bring'st us an estate , yet leav'st us poor 36 COWLEY .
Page 37
... - tary deviation from nature in pursuit of something new and strange ; and that the writers fail to give delight , by their desire of exciting admiration . HAVING thus endeavoured to exhibit a general representation of the COWLEY . 37.
... - tary deviation from nature in pursuit of something new and strange ; and that the writers fail to give delight , by their desire of exciting admiration . HAVING thus endeavoured to exhibit a general representation of the COWLEY . 37.
Page 44
... delighted in it , as much as if he had invented it ; but , not to mention the ancients , he might have found it full - blown in modern Italy . Thus San- nazaro : Aspice quam variis distringar Lesbia curis ! Uror , et heu ! nostro manat ...
... delighted in it , as much as if he had invented it ; but , not to mention the ancients , he might have found it full - blown in modern Italy . Thus San- nazaro : Aspice quam variis distringar Lesbia curis ! Uror , et heu ! nostro manat ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Absalom and Achitophel admired Æneid afterwards ancients appears beauties better blank verse censure character Charles Charles Dryden considered Cowley criticism daughter death defend delight diction dramatick Dryden Duke Earl elegance English epick Euripides excellence fancy favour friends genius heroick honour hope Hudibras images imagination imitation Jacob Tonson John Dryden judgement kind King known labour Lady language Latin learning lines lived Lord Lord Roscommon Marriage à-la-mode Milton mind nature ness never NIHIL numbers opinion Paradise Lost Paradise Regained parliament passions perhaps perusal Philips Pindar play pleasure poem poet poetical poetry pounds praise preface produced publick published racters reader reason relates reputation rhyme satire says seems sentiments Shakspeare sometimes Sprat style supposed thee thing thou thought tion tragedy translation truth Tyrannick Love verses versification Virgil virtue Waller words write written wrote
Popular passages
Page 149 - Nothing can less display knowledge, or less exercise invention, than to tell how a shepherd has lost his companion, and must now feed his flocks alone, without any judge of his skill in piping ; and how one god asks another god what is become of Lycidas, and how neither god can tell. He who thus grieves will excite no sympathy ; he who thus praises will confer no honour.
Page 22 - Yet great labour, directed by great abilities, is never wholly lost : if they frequently threw away their wit upon false conceits, they likewise sometimes struck out unexpected truth : if their conceits were far-fetched, they were often worth the carriage. To write on their plan, it was at least necessary to read and think.
Page 100 - I had taken two degrees, as the manner is, signified many ways how much better it would content them that I would stay ; as by many letters full of kindness and loving respect, both before that time and long after, I was assured of their singular good affection towards me.
Page 155 - ... such is the power of his poetry, that his call is obeyed without resistance ; the reader feels himself in captivity to a higher and a nobler mind, and criticism sinks in admiration.
Page 149 - He seems to have been well acquainted with his own genius, and to know what it was that nature had bestowed upon him more bountifully than upon others...
Page 21 - Great thoughts are always general, and consist in positions not limited by exceptions, and in descriptions not descending to minuteness.
Page 394 - She gave but glimpses of her glorious mind : And multitudes of virtues pass'd along; Each pressing foremost in the mighty throng, Ambitious to be seen, and then make room For greater multitudes that were to come. Yet unemploy'd no minute slipp'd away; Moments were precious in so short a stay.
Page 20 - Their thoughts are often new, but seldom natural ; they are not obvious, but neither are they just ; and the reader, far from wondering that he missed them, wonders more frequently by what perverseness of industry they were ever found.
Page 357 - Hope is always liberal ; and they that trust her promises make little scruple of revelling to-day on the profits of the morrow. Of his plays the profit was not great ; and of the produce of his other works very little intelligence can be Kad.
Page 414 - I knew, says he, that they were bad enough to please, even when I wrote them. There is surely reason to suspect that he pleased himself as well as his audience ; and that these, like the harlots of other men, had his love, though not his approbation. He had sometimes faults of a less generous and splendid kind. He makes, like almost all other poets, very frequent use of mythology, and sometimes connects religion and fable too closely without distinction. He descends to display his knowledge with...